YS Viveka Murder Case: Breather for Avinash Reddy

Responding to a petition filed by Dastagiri, one of the key persons allegedly involved in the case, against Reddy’s bail, the court dismissed it bringing major relief to him.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), presently probing the murder case. The names of Avinash Reddy and his father were figured in the murder case that created a sensation before the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh in 2019. The CBI questioned Avinash Reddy in detail at its office in Koti in Hyderabad. However, he denied the allegations that he was involved in the case.

On the intervening night of 14 and 15th March 2019, Vivekananda Reddy was brutally murdered in his residence and his body was found in a pool of blood in the bathroom inside his bedroom. Vivekananda Reddy is the younger brother of late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who was former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and uncle of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the present Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

The deceased was an MLA of Pulivendula Constituency in 1985 and 1994, as Member of Lok Sabha from Kadapa Parliamentary Constituency in 1999 and 2004, as Member of A.P. Legislative Council in 2009. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Member of Parliamentary Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forest Constituted by the Central government in the year 2005.

After the murder, the police registered an FIR in Pulivendula Urban Police Station Crime No. 84/2019 initially under Section 174 CrPc based on the complaint of M.V. Krishna Reddy, who was the Personal Assistant of the deceased and subsequently the section of law was altered to 302 IPC.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the then State Government probed the case, which was later taken over by the CBI.